UCC Rugby Club

Match Report: The Bulldogs got their first win of the season on Friday night in a tale of two halves. Despite the cold wet weather, the game was like something from Super rugby. Forwards and backs got straight into the game with real intent. Simple and effective rugby orchestrated by a sharp 9 and 10 partnership of Arran Copeland and Kevin Harrington saw the Bulldogs overwhelm Dolphin and run in 4 tries in the first 20 minutes. Evidence of hard work on the training ground was clear in the discipline, communication and fitness on the pitch. There were little to no unforced errors in the first half and despite a debuting centre partnership, the backs were hungry in attack and wingers Adam McCarthy and Andrew O’Riordan, full-back Jack Blake and scrum-half Arran Copeland as well as scary number 8 Daniel Cullen all contributed to scoring 38 points in the first half.
After such a confident and dominating first 40 minutes, the game began to descend into chaos. Structure was lost and defence was scrappy, an understandable consequence of the first half performance. The Bulldogs’ attacking hunger had passed. Dolphin battled for possession and seemed more composed. Substitutions came on to bring balance to the force, including Conor Curran who bravely tackled his own player. The forwards worked relentlessly, particularly front-rows Matthew Sweeney and Kyle Harte in keeping Dolphin’s newfound energy at bay for most of the half. There wasn’t much consistency, it wasn’t as pretty as Jean Baptiste, but the Bulldogs had done more than enough to stay ahead and came away 41-29 winners. Well deserved.